What is Your Absolute Favorite Resource for Teaching Spanish??

[Midwest Pixie]

If you could only buy ONE resource for teaching Spanish, what would it be and why?

 

Also, if you have found a FREE resource that you love either online or through your local library, would you mind sharing it here?

 

My children (who range in age from 3-12) want to learn Spanish. We had started with German (Muzzy and Rosetta Stone) because we have German heritage, but I think we've come to the conclusion that Spanish would be more practical. So your input about the Spanish programs or resources you love would be greatly appreciated! :bigear:

 

Thanks in advance!

[Matryoshka]

My children (who range in age from 3-12) want to learn Spanish. We had started with German (Muzzy and Rosetta Stone) because we have German heritage, but I think we've come to the conclusion that Spanish would be more practical.

 

I'm fluent in both Spanish and German, and worked for 10 years in the software industry, and my German was very useful, and my Spanish pretty much was only helpful in that it helped me understand French, which was the other language that was most in use. Chinese and Japanese were on the rise as well about the time I "retired" to have kids.

 

Not trying to discourage your learning Spanish;l I love the language! But I keep hearing people say it's more "practical" - that depends very much on what you are planning to use the langauge for.

 

I often hesitate to share what I find most useful in teaching Spanish, as I prefer resources that require a fluent teacher, which is pretty much the opposite of what most others are looking for. But for free online resources, I like Coffee Break and later Show Time Spanish on radiolingua.com , Mi Vida Loca on bbc.co.uk , and of course Destinos on learner.org . Most of these would be most useful to your older two.

[Corraleno]

Elementary Spanish on Discovery Streaming. There are 3 levels, for grades 1-2, 3-4, and 5-6, with 100 lessons in each level, taught by a real teacher.

 

Jackie

[Midwest Pixie]

Elementary Spanish on Discovery Streaming. There are 3 levels, for grades 1-2, 3-4, and 5-6, with 100 lessons in each level, taught by a real teacher.

 

Jackie, I am unfamiliar with Discovery Streaming. Is it free, or something you pay for to have a subscription? Can you give me a link to the Spanish lessons streaming section?

 

Thank you!

[Corraleno]

Jackie, I am unfamiliar with Discovery Streaming. Is it free, or something you pay for to have a subscription? Can you give me a link to the Spanish lessons streaming section?

It's not free, it's $139/yr for the Basic subscription and $199 for Plus. But it's not just Spanish — that's just one of thousands of video programs and other curricula available from Discovery Education with an annual subscription. It's available at a discount through Homeschool Buyers Coop:

 

https://www.homeschoolbuyersco-op.org/index.php?option=com_hsbc_epp_order&Itemid=1038

 

You can click the links to see demos from DE's webpage. It's expensive but well worth it IMHO for all the history and science materials as well as such an excellent Spanish program. I don't think there are any samples of the Spanish program online though. Sometimes they show it on cable/satellite TV — check if your provider has Northern Arizona University's channel. If you can catch one or two episodes that would give you an idea of what it's like. The DE Streaming subscription includes downloadable PDFs of the student workbooks and the teacher's guides for all of the NAU Spanish courses.

 

Jackie

[joni470]

If you live in Georgia Discovery Education is free as the schools are already paying for it. You have to send a letter of intent to home school to DE and then you will receive access.

 

Savannah

http://www.hammocktracks.com

[elfinbaby]

We follow the Latin Centered philosophy so we're doing Latin right now. Then Greek. But Spanish is going to be our first "living" foreign language. I live in TX and those who speak Spanish certainly have an edge when applying for certain jobs. Whether it's banking, education, managing a store - the Spanish speaking population is growing so quickly, fluent Spanish speakers are needed everywhere. I don't think it's isolated to TX either.

 

After Spanish, we will learn Chinese - which I believe is the next most useful language if we look at languages based on their global usefulness.

 

I haven't solidified my Spanish curriculum choice yet since it's not in the near future but there's a thread around here somewhere that mentions a program that is grammar based. That's my preferred method of learning for now.

 

This is the link http://www.tobreak.com/ I haven't used it but I'm leaning towards it. I don't think it would work for your younger ones. My six yr. old was in a relaxed co-op class and they used this https://funclase.com/welcome.html Without working, she managed to retain quite a bit.

[Midwest Pixie]

Thanks, all of you, for the suggestions and the links so far. Savannah, we're in MO so I don't think we have the same Discovery Ed. perks here :)

 

Anyone else out there want to chime in with top shelf favorite resource?

[tofuscramble]

Live Mocha is a good free resource for language learning.

[Amy Jo]

Salsa Spanish - you can get it free here: http://www.gpb.org/digitallibrary -- search for "salsa" . You can get teaching activities here http://www.k12.wy.us/search/search.a...sa&Send=Search (or Google "WyFLES Salsa" if that link fails).

[3Rivers]

My favorite is La Clase Divertida. Hands down. Love it.

[mazakaal]

We've only just started Spanish, so take my advice with a grain of salt, but so far my kids love Getting Started With Spanish. I'm using it with 6yo, 7yo, and 12yo, and so far it's going really well. Very short, straightforward lessons.

[Midwest Pixie]

My favorite is La Clase Divertida. Hands down. Love it.

 

It looks like fun, but I am wondering how practical it would be to do with 5 students...would I really need to get 3 extra student packs? (Adds another $75!) Are the craft projects worth it? Or could I photocopy the student books that would come with the original set and assemble my own extra student craft materials?

 

Thanks for your input!

[Midwest Pixie]

We've only just started Spanish, so take my advice with a grain of salt, but so far my kids love Getting Started With Spanish. I'm using it with 6yo, 7yo, and 12yo, and so far it's going really well. Very short, straightforward lessons.

 

Megan, thanks for this tip! I looked it up on Amazon and it has very favorable reviews from others as well. I am downloading his freebies from the website right now to get a better look. :D

 

Also, I have appreciated everyone's links to web resources as well. I am bookmarking them all to check out! Thanks, ladies! :thumbup:

[2cents]

My all time fave Spanish resource is FLVS. You have to be in FL to get access free though. After that, it is Unitedstreaming Spanish. We use Unitedstreaming Spanish in the summer between FLVS classes. It is not exactly free since you need to buy Unitedstreaming (discount at homeschoolbuyerscoop). I use Unitedstreaming almost everyday though for science and history so it is an added bonus for us. :)

[Jennefer@SSA]

Elementary Spanish on Discovery Streaming. There are 3 levels, for grades 1-2, 3-4, and 5-6, with 100 lessons in each level, taught by a real teacher.

 

Jackie

:iagree: That's what I was going to say! :)